Hi Jake and welcome. I've been down the financing road and found significant differences in lending standards between various sized banks/finance companies (and I work for a bank but I don't do anything related to lending anymore). A lot won't do old aircraft and/or they provide limited valuations for avionics, whose value regularly exceeds the acquisition cost of the plane -- particularly in older models with upgraded panels. I ended up doing business with an outfit in OK I'd never heard of that handled everything electronically, performed their own in-house appraisal which had higher allowances for the avionics and aircraft condition than others had given, and was willing to finance a greater portion of the acquisition cost, which allowed me to complete the purchase and put money aside immediately for reserves. And the rate was in line with my expectations.

The aviation lending department was a one-man shop, and that wasn't a bad thing. In fact, they've been great all the way around. The rest of the story is that they also financed my plane for the previous owner, and he's the one who told me about them. PM me if you want their contact info -- I'm not shilling for anybody, but I've been where you are.

All this just to say don't let a pre-approval dictate the condition of the aircraft you buy. Find the aircraft you want, then find the financing. You already have an idea of what your financial limits are, which gives you license to hunt for the plane (and for other finance options) that meets your personal requirements (rather than the bank's). My loan process took an hour for filling out & faxing the application and emailing links to the airplane specs. The approval took another 3 business hours -- it was back to me by noon after one quick phone clarification, and it exceeded my expectations. So I was able to agree on price, confirm financing, submit the offer, and sign the contract on day 1. The deal was made contingent on the inspection report from the annual, which commenced after I made the offer.

Can't stress this enough -- if you know your financial limits and they've been verified by at least one lender, you can go out and find the plane that meets your needs. There are lenders who want your business and won't weigh you down with unrealistic lending requirements.

PS -- I've flown mooneys and bonanzas. If you're a small guy and plan on staying small, mooney's a good option. To me it was kinda like what a mini cooper is to a bmw crossover. I love the space and utility of the bonanza cabin, and I liked the handling characteristics of both. In the end, the bonanza fit my requirements better and unquestionably made me look like a better pilot with consistently good landings. Those eluded me in the mooney, which in my opinion always seemed to defy the law of gravity when it detected any runway and was absolutely defiant if a bunch of planes were holding short and judging landings.

Just my $0.02...